Thursday, June 10, 2010

Welcome to the carnival! The Make it from Scratch carnival is your chance to share your projects. I hope you join us by linking up at the bottom of this post.

There really is nothing like fresh peas from the garden, so sweet and delicious. If you do not have some growing in your garden, I encourage you to stop by your local produce market to get some.

Peas do have their down side though. We have never planted a lot of peas because they yield very little for the amount of work they take. Peas are very easy to grow. The work comes with the harvest; more specifically with the shelling of the peas. A huge bowl of pea pods will yield about enough for one dinner for my family of six. So, while we thoroughly enjoy our fresh peas, we seldom have any to freeze for the winter. But not this year.

This year, in addition to shell peas, we planted sugar snap peas. Sugar snap peas have a wonderful sweet flavor with an added bonus. The pods are edible. So a huge bowl of pea pods actually yields a huge bowl of peas to eat. They are wonderful fresh served with dip, or cut up into salad. They are great in soups, stir-fry, or just lightly steamed.

I am so excited to have some of these frozen to use over the winter. Here is how you freeze them.

1. Wash the pods.
2. String the peas by pinching the ends and pulling off the strings on the top and bottom.
3. Blanch. Place peas in boiling water for two minutes. Lift peas out and plunge into ice cold water for two minutes.
4. Drain.
5. Pack into freezer bags or containers. Leave 1/2 inch headspace, seal, and freeze.

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Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.

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7 comments:

Thanks for the instructions! We always buy a bag when grocery shopping to eat in the store. They are gone in a flash and are one of our favourite snacks. I think I'll have to grow some now. Thanks for the inspiration :)

I'm taking this post to leave my lurking life behind me and say "I love sugar snap peas!!!" they are my favorite vegetable, and I eat them every way imaginable. Raw? Check. Soup? Yes, it happened, it was horrendous. I really enjoy them in a stir fry or in fried rice, too!